Patents: Patent agents warn against privatisation

Patent agents are trying to stop the British government from privatising the Patent Office, warning that the move could put judicial decisions into the hands of business and disqualify British inventors and industry from the protection of international legal agreements.

The Chartered Institute of Patent Agents (CIPA), which represents the legal specialists who help industry with patents, has canvassed its members on the subject. It says this produced 'an overwhelming response indicating a great degree of concern and almost unanimous condemnation of the proposal to privatise'.

In 1990 the government turned the Patent Office into an executive agency - hiving it off from the Department of Trade and Industry. It remains part of the civil service, but with more control over its own budget. To reduce costs, the agency moved most of its offices out of London to Newport in South Wales. In June this year the junior trade minister, ...

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